SPIDER-MAN 3: Resurfaced Photos Show An Early Unused Design For Tobey Maguire's Black Symbiote Suit

Resurfaced photos from behind the scenes of Spider-Man 3 reveal the comic-accurate design Sam Raimi and Sony Pictures considered for Peter Parker's alien costume in the 2007 movie. Read on for details...

By JoshWilding - Aug 17, 2023 08:08 AM EST

Filed Under: Spider-Man 3

In 2007's Spider-Man 3, Peter Parker encountered his alien costume and soon found himself embracing his darker side. It was a relatively rushed subplot and one we've since learned was shoehorned into the threequel by Venom-loving producer Avi Arad.

Tobey Maguire's web-slinger was ultimately decked out in what was essentially a black version of his regular red and blue suit. Venom was a little more comic-accurate, of course, though quite a bit smaller in size than the version seen on the page.

Now, early behind-the-scenes photos from Spider-Man 3 have resurfaced on social media, becoming quite the hot-button topic in the process.

These will be familiar to some of you, but they show what would have been a pitch-perfect take on the black-suited Spidey...and it doesn't really work! It's akin to a gimp costume if we're being honest and proves not everything we've seen in comic books will work in live-action.

Tom Holland's web-slinger is expected to don the alien costume either in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man 4 or one of the upcoming Avengers movies. However, we're guessing that design would be similar to the Spider-Man 2 video game, with a little more texture instead of a completely smooth surface from head to toe.

Filmmaker Sam Raimi's experience making Spider-Man 3 soured him on the franchise, and he didn't return for a fourth chapter that was set to pit Spidey against The Vulture. However, he made his Marvel return for last year's Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

As for Maguire, there are still rumblings he'll return to the MCU after appearing in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

What did you think about Spider-Man 3's take on Symbiote Spider-Man?

Photos of an earlier iteration of the Symbiote suit in Spider-Man 3 (2007) pic.twitter.com/0zA5k86HuT
— All Things Raimi Spider-Man (@EARTH_96283) August 16, 2023

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44 Comments

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Batmangina - 8/17/2023, 8:57 AM

Let me be FIRST to say...Spider-Man 3 isn't that bad.

soberchimera - 8/17/2023, 9:12 AM

@Batmangina - Better than 2/3rds of the MCU at least and 9/10ths of the DCEU.

DrReedRichards - 8/17/2023, 9:26 AM

@soberchimera, @Batmangina -

Time from a failure and distance in a relationship tend to make everything seem more tolerable in hindsight.

soberchimera - 8/17/2023, 9:28 AM

@DrReedRichards - Well I think the Star Wars prequels are evidence of that.

DrReedRichards - 8/17/2023, 9:29 AM

@soberchimera -

Accurate, but clearly not the example I was referencing here.

DudeGuy - 8/17/2023, 9:35 AM

@Batmangina - i rewatched it last night. It really isn’t that bad. And compared to the junk Marvel has put out recently it’s good.

SheepishOne - 8/17/2023, 9:55 AM

@Batmangina - It becomes significantly less "bad" when you understand Raimi's intent with Peter. All the symbiote-influenced "darkness" like the infamous dancing, the finger guns, etc. isn't Peter being depicted as cool and failing...it's Peter's dorky interpretation of what "cool" is.

The tough elements to get past are the overstuffed plot and the Harry amnesia subplot (not to mention the ski-bro goblin). But they're not so bad as to negate what works for the movie. The Sandman stuff is all great. Peter's struggles with the symbiote were great, and his conflict with Harry and MJ is great and true to the rest of the series' progression.

I think the movie could have been PERFECT with a couple of changes:

-Focus on Sandman as the only supervillain for the vast majority of the movie.
-Make the Sandman-as-Ben's-killer retcon be the symbiote putting thoughts in Peter's mind
-Have the Eddie Venom transformation be the final scene of the movie, or even a post-credits stinger to set up Spider-Man 4.
-Harry can remain a secondary villain, but just make him the Hobgoblin. Get rid of the "new Goblin" getup and have him don Norman's old Goblin suit, which is now both stained with blood and rusted, to give it a browning appearance, and give him a hood.

Batmangina - 8/17/2023, 10:10 AM

@DrReedRichards - I agree 100% - unless we're talking about my ex wives.

Batmangina - 8/17/2023, 10:15 AM

@SheepishOne - I agree on the overstuffed plot and LOVE the idea of the Sandman as UBs killer being a mind[frick] by the symbiote.

Disco Peter will be forever cringe - would've been better served just to have him be a bigger dick to the women and maybe beat a few pickpockets nearly to death or something to illustrate the Dark Side.

Steel86 - 8/17/2023, 10:37 AM

@SheepishOne - Your rewrites are exactly why I think its the worst of all time. Its not just a bad movie but with 2 previous amazing movies that perfectly set it up make. I absolutely loathe the Sandman retcon but the villain is greatly portrayed. You put a dark orange hoodie on Harry and make him Hobgoblin would've been perfect and Venom was just terrible and rushed. The part that always makes me laugh is the bell scene is perfect but unnecessary because he's been taking the suit off and on all movie.

Steel86 - 8/17/2023, 10:37 AM

@Batmangina - Respectfully disagree

Batmangina - 8/17/2023, 10:51 AM

@Steel86 - TBF, I never said it was actually 'GOOD' just that it wasn't that 'BAD' but I applaud the ability to respectfully disagree 1000%

Also dig your Hobgoblin idea btw

Steel86 - 8/17/2023, 11:03 AM

@Batmangina - Nooice! Yeah my wife likes it so I watch it alot more than I actually want to, Lol.
Yeah I hate when people are rude over fictional works of art. Its all opinions.
And thank you👍

hainesy - 8/17/2023, 12:33 PM

@SheepishOne - This is bang on.

SheepishOne - 8/17/2023, 12:47 PM

@Batmangina - I'm imagining every scene where Peter "discovers" Sandman is involved happens after he gets the symbiote, and he's wearing the black suit at every step.

Then there's a moment in the third act, near the climax, where Sandman states definitively that he went to jail for robbing a grocery store or something like 2 years before Ben's death, and there's this sort of Fight Club realization montage where Peter realizes nobody ever said it to him, and it was all the symbiote. Which leads to the bell tower scene.

dragon316 - 8/17/2023, 4:45 PM

@Batmangina - they made venom bad that was only problem not big all they got right alien costume is want take over Spider-Man the later hate for Spider-Man

Slotherin - 8/18/2023, 7:01 AM

@Steel86 - didn't he take off the symbiote in the comics before fully removing it?
I could be mistaken. I took it as the symbiote allowed it because it was sure he was coming back but then with the bell it could pick up his intent as he was forcefully removing it to never wear again.

Steel86 - 8/18/2023, 11:56 AM

@Slotherin - At the very beginning he could take it off fairly easily but then he discovered the symbiote could change its shape as to give him regular clothes when he wasn't Spiderman so he wore it all the time. And the more he wore it the more attached it became to him to were he couldn't take it off when he started to not like hoe over agerssive it was making him. He had a fight with some villain earlier that had sonic weapons so thats how he discovered it hated those vibrations which led him to the bell tower so he could get it off him.

Slotherin - 8/23/2023, 6:15 AM

@Steel86 - thanks for that!

Origame - 8/17/2023, 8:57 AM

Yeah. We've seen this.

soberchimera - 8/17/2023, 9:14 AM

@Origame - And yet you're putting money in Josh's pocket by clicking on the article and commenting.....

TheVandalore - 8/17/2023, 8:58 AM

"Resurfaced" as in you googled shit we all know about already.

GhostDog - 8/17/2023, 9:05 AM

AC1 - 8/17/2023, 9:07 AM

I don't think it proves the comic-accurate suit wouldn't work in live-action, I think it just proves that they did it badly. I'm fine with the version we got though, would've been nice to maybe get a bigger white spider emblem on the chest just to make it a bit more noticeable but it fit the movie, and it means if the MCU ever does their own version they can do a more accurate version and the two will be distinct from each other.

But yeah, Spider-Man 3 has grown on me a bit over the years and the memes that have been born from it are their own reward, but I'll never forget the soul-crushing disappointment I felt watching it in the theatre as a kid, and I still can't help but think splitting it into two parts and fleshing out everything they had going on could've saved it. Either way, I'm still hoping Tobey comes back for Secret Wars but if not then I'm glad he got to have a better send off in No Way Home.

WarAdmiral51 - 8/17/2023, 10:40 AM

@AC1 - It's certain aspects of the suit that wouldn't translate. For example, everyone seems to want to the "smooth texture" of the suit, and that's just something that live-action doesn't do well. It'll come off looking like a full latex outfit. That's why the MCU has added lines to their suit adaptations, and DC added a scaly design for Supes/Aquaman.

AC1 - 8/17/2023, 12:45 PM

@WarAdmiral51 - Well yeah exactly, it's "certain aspects" not the whole thing, the overall design can still work with some additions like textures to make it work in live action - I'm not disputing the fact that the attempt in the images above looks bad, because it does, and as you say it's largely down to the smooth texture making it look rubbery and weird. A design that largely follows the comic version i.e. "fully black suit with large white wraparound spider logo and big white eyes" would work as long as some adjustments like giving it a fabric texture maybe a few other small details were added just to make it feel more tactile and real.

Maybe even some stuff to make it look more organic or alive and less tailored, like the eye shapes being slightly imperfect, or the fabric texture looking irregular, things like that. But it's definitely achievable.

AC1 - 8/17/2023, 9:09 AM

Also yeah this isn't "news." If anything it's "olds."

http://giphy.com/gifs/season-12-the-simpsons-12x9-xT5LMCPG5f5Hp9eMZW

AC1 - 8/17/2023, 9:13 AM

@AC1 - Omg do the thing, gif. Just gif already... GIIIIFFFFFF!!!

RedHood92 - 8/17/2023, 9:09 AM

URCOMMENTSUCKS - 8/17/2023, 9:20 AM

These pics have been around since 2015. Slow day on the news, it looks.

DrReedRichards - 8/17/2023, 9:27 AM

The amount of people taking trollish takes seriously is as predictable as it is disheartening.

dagenspear - 8/17/2023, 9:42 AM

BringFFtoMCU - 8/17/2023, 9:42 AM

Two days in a row with articles of old news that everyone has known or seen for years.

TREE24K - 8/17/2023, 1:07 PM

@BringFFtoMCU - I don't recall seeing it before and I've been on here forever. New people find this website and might actually like stuff like this.

Truoptimusprime - 8/17/2023, 10:27 AM

Bad memories, back during the Spiderman Hype forum before this site even existed 😆. I was so freaking hyped to see Venom, the movie disappointed the hell out of me 😆. I remember turning my venom shirt inside out because how embarrassed I was 😆 🤣 😂. One thing I never forgot that day was going in the theater with ZERO expectations, after that day I was never let down about another movie again.

MahN166A - 8/17/2023, 10:37 AM

SuperHeroHype.com forum content is coming back!

BritishMonkey - 8/17/2023, 10:44 AM

These things circulate every year.

Deckacards - 8/17/2023, 10:57 AM

That first pic, though...*shudder*...

It looks like a life-size statue of the old Secret Wars black costume action figure from the 80s, and that makes me drool with joy....

ObserverIO - 8/17/2023, 12:19 PM

Spider-Man 3 is a flawed but brilliant, beautiful movie. It's secretly the final Spider-Man story.

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